Star hated playing cat and mouse in her own home. At least, that’s what she felt like she was doing, trying to avoid Lukas in the kitchen at all costs.

Of course she’d seen him around, she’d just made sure that she was never in the same room alone with him. She pointedly ignored him and spoke kindly to anyone else. If he was in the kitchen she was helping to serve with Cassie. If he was helping Jed with maintenance, she was in the kitchen helping Connie with prep or cooking.

The arrangement suited her just fine. She was surprised how life could return to some form of normalcy after the showdown in her office. She’d seen Annie twice since then but had carefully avoided mentioning Lukas at all. She didn’t know what to think. There were two sides to every story but who was she going to trust? A snake like Lukas who made his living helping guilty people escape justice or her best friend who was sweet and kind and caring?

Star was in the supply room taking inventory before she put in an order when Cassie surprised her by coming up right behind her.

Star nearly jumped out of her skin when the older woman tapped her on the shoulder. “Oh goodness, Cassie. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Star smiled and relaxed her death grip on the pad of paper and pen in her hand.

“Sorry. I wanted to catch you alone. I had to ask if you know.”

“If I know what?”

Cassie glanced behind her but the hall was empty. “If you know what Lukas is doing?”

“No! What is he doing?” It must be pretty bad if Cassie had actually sought her out for a private conversation.

Cassie lowered her voice to little more than a whisper. Star had to lean forward and strain just so she could hear the quietly spoken words. “He’s been serving dinners for a couple weeks now.”

“Yes, I know that. It’s alright, I gave him the go ahead on that.”

“It’s not that.” Cassie leaned in like she was getting ready to divulge some wild secret. Star braced herself for it. If Lukas was concerned, she knew anything was possible.

Anything at all including the fact that she hadn’t slept properly since that kiss. That her dreams were haunted. That her lips still tingled. That secretly, she burned for even the briefest touch. She was utterly ashamed of herself.

“What is it then?”

“He’s helping people with their legal matters. You know, tickets, fines. You know that some people get arrested for begging? Others have outstanding issues. Some need pardons. I don’t even know the whole scope of it. I guess it started when Mr. Wilde came in complaining about being arrested for being drunk in public. He had to appear in court. He had no idea what that meant. You know Mr. Wilde isn’t really… in the right frame of mind most of the time.”

“And?” Star leaned forward, suddenly far too anxious to hear what happened next.

“Well Lukas went with him as his representative. Got him off with just a warning. Word has it that he shamed the whole court for bullying a man who is clearly in need of support. Mr. Wilde’s mental health issues should be addressed with the help of a system, but instead he’s left to fall through the cracks. The man is homeless with nothing more than the clothes on his back. Well of course the judge took pity on Mr. Wilde. I heard Mrs. Eaton say that Lukas even helped get Mr. Wilde into some kind of program and into a shelter. Not that he’ll stay there I’m sure, but it might be a good start.”              

Star was aware that her mouth was hanging open. She slammed it shut and swallowed hard. “And what else? Who else has he helped?” She leaned forward desperately.

Cassie blinked. “I’m not really sure. I just know that people are coming to him, either after hours or while he’s serving dinner. They’re telling him their problems and he’s helping. Quiet like. I wouldn’t have known about Mr. Wilde at all had it not been for some of the others talking amongst themselves. It’s quite amazing, don’t you think?” The older woman looked a little star struck.

Star didn’t honestly know what to think. She knew that slowly, one by one, her staff were losing their hearts to Lukas Millar. He was winning them over. Which either meant he was one hell of an actor or that she’d completely misjudged him. Either way, she didn’t like what that meant for her.

“I’ll talk to him about it.”

“I don’t know if you should. I mean, what’s the harm if he’s doing something good? It could be much worse. He was pretty sullen when he first walked through those doors but I’ve seen a real change in him. I know he used to be disgusted by the people who came here and now it seems like he actually has a heart. Either he’s changed or we were all wrong about him.”

“Maybe both, maybe neither.” Star gripped her pen so hard the little metal clip on the side of it bit into the fleshy part of her palm. “I’m not going to tell him to stop helping people. I just want to know which it is.”

“Because you care?”

“What?” Star gasped. “Certainly not!”

Cassie winked. “I’ve seen the way you look at Mr. Millar when he’s not looking. You’ve been walking around here and there’s something different about you. A new sparkle in your eyes.”

“There is not!”

Cassie just nodded. “Mmmm hmmm. You just keep believing that. I’m more than twice your age missy and I know for a fact that there’s something different that just happens to coincide with Mr. Millar arriving here. Actually, I believe it was after the night he went to your father’s care home. Maybe you saw the good in him.”

“Or maybe you’re reading too much into it.”

“I don’t think so, but we don’t have to talk about it.” Cassie turned her attention to the dry goods supply room. “I think Connie said we’re out of beans.” She checked the shelf with the white label. It was empty. “Yup. Right there. Straight out.”

“I have it marked already,” Star said dryly. “I’ve done this a couple of times. A couple thousand that is.”

The older woman’s grin told Star all she needed to know. “How is your dad doing anyway? I’m sorry, I completely forgot to ask you since last time.”

“That was yesterday. He’s still doing fine. Getting better every day.”

“That’s great to hear. It looks like you won’t need a certain lawyer’s help after all.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

Cassie swept out of the supply room as silently as she entered. She went striding down the hallway, her arthritis obviously not bothering her, whistling all the way.

Star stood staring at the empty shelves. Her pen still dug into her palm. She relaxed her death grip and brought her pad of paper back up to eye level. It was a good thing she’d done this twice a week for years. She was going to be operating on autopilot. Her mind was a thousand miles away. No, actually, not a thousand at all. Just with a certain aggravating man who had somehow forced his way under her skin and into the tender part of her that had feelings. A man who was just down the hallway, in the other room, likely getting ready to serve dinner by now.

And solve all the world’s problems.

The trouble was, Star remembered all too well the gauntlet she’d thrown down. She just needed to know if Lukas was helping because he wanted to or because he thought she wanted him to. If it wasn’t the latter and he truly did have a heart that wasn’t totally black, she might just have to honor her word and go on a date with him.

Strangely enough the idea wasn’t completely repulsive. Actually, it wasn’t repulsive at all. Where the heck did that leave her?